But before we get to the movie scene, consider:
- Earlier this month we reviewed findings from the fabulous website, www.opensecrets.org, which contains the most comprehensive archives of how big money perverts and undermines our democracy. It is a source that shows how corporations, unions, PACs, and lobbyists flood our political processes and drown out the voices of ordinary citizens.
- Also, we previously reviewed the despotic cronyism and billions of dollars the Obama administration has wasted by giving taxpayer wealth to political cronies in charge of ill-fated and now mostly bankrupt alternative energy companies. Most of these entities have returned nothing positive to the taxpayers who funded these ill-fated ventures, ventures which are nothing more than thinly disguised campaign donation funnels.
- And just this week we covered how Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, has also been hip deep in cronyism, giving out Energy Department alternative energy taxpayer wealth to many of his own campaign contributors.
But back to the movie scene. As you read the dialog between a U.S. Senator and a citizen, who is a public relations professional, try to guess what year the movie was made:
Senator: But when you start tampering with the facts, twisting the truth to further a particular cause, you wind up serving your client but swindling the public. Taking public opinion is useful, making public opinion is dangerous. Do you have any idea, Alan, how many highly financed organizations we now have set up in Washington to pressure Congress and government agencies for their particular groups and clients?
Alan: The right of the people to petition to their government...
Senator: That right must be maintained but its a far cry from one citizen's single stamp appeal to a professionally packaged campaign, complete from fake front groups with high sounding titles to pre-written laws ready for our signature and endorsement.
Alan: If money still talks, Senator, a little stamp must have a hard time being heard.
Senator: Exactly, my committee is out to determine to what extent these hired loud speakers are distorting the voice of the people. Legitimate lobbying is one thing. We are preparing to investigate abuses that come to our attention. We're going to look into these influence peddlers in general.
Boy, doesn't that exchange seem like it could be going on today? If the noun "spin doctor" existed when this movie was made, it would fit right into the dialog. Looks like the makers of the movie also recognized there was too much money in politics back when they made it and that the voice of the average citizen, as measured by that citizen sending a letter to their elected representatives, was also being drowned out by the money and influence peddlers.
The movie was entitled "The Fearmakers" and it starred a relatively famous actor of the time, Dana Andrews. Unfortunately, the movie was made in 1958, 54 years ago. Nothing much seems to have changed since it was made relative to the undercutting of our democracy by political money except for the fact, at least in the movie, one politician wanted to rein in the impact of excessive money. In 2012, I am not sure that a single politician exists in Washington with that same noble intent.
How bad has it gotten today:
- The Obama administration gives out billions of dollars to alternative energy companies (Solyndra, Brightsource, etc.) which are run by well connected Democratic Party supporters and fundraisers. None of the companies ever come close to returning the taxpayer wealth which is doled out for solely political fundraising reasons.
- The Obama administration gives out billions of dollars to alternative transportation companies (Ecotality, Tesla, Fisker Motors, General Motoros) which are run by well connected Democratic Party supporters and fundraisers. None of the companies ever come close to returning the taxpayer wealth which is doled out solely for political fundraising reasons.
- How many dozens of times in the past two years has Obama attended fundraising dinners where the cost of attendance is anywhere from $10,000 to $40,000 a seat, a price that average Americans cannot dream of paying for access to and gain favors from the Washington political class?
- How many average Americans attended the recent North Carolina political fund raising fashion show highlighted by Michele Obama, the cost of which was $100,000 per couple?
- How many hundreds of millions of dollars have various industry groups given to the political class, most notably the banking and legal industries) as documented by http://www.opensecrets.org/?
- How many stamps and letters would average Americans have to put together to overcome that financial disadvantage?
- Step 5 would allow only individual Americans to donate to political campaigns. Corporations, unions, PACs, lobbyists, etc. would be strictly forbidden to contribute to election campaigns. I am pretty sure that when the Founding Fathers insisted on freedom of speech for all Americans they were only thinking about freedom of speech for individual Americans, not Goldman Sachs, the AFL-CIO, or anything of their peer unions, corporations, etc.
- Step 6 would not allow anyone to contribute money to a political campaign that they were not directly involved with. For example, a resident of New Jersey could not contribute to a person running for the U.S. Senate from Kansas. The residents of Kansas should decide with their own money and vote who will represent them, not the money from New Jersey.
- Step 39 would impose term limits on all Federal politicians. The need to constantly gather campaign funds for the next reelection campaign is the major source of money corruption in our democracy. Remove the opportunity to get reelected and maybe our elected representatives would spend more time governing and leading and less time worrying about keeping their political office. As a side benefit, we could finally get rid of the long time dead wood serving in Congress. Given their track record and how the have led the country to the sorry state we are in today, how much worse could it be to dump them all out of office on a regular basis?
All of these steps probably require a full blown effort to amend the Constitution. It would not be easy, the very monied interests that pervert the political processes today would divert their money to block any attempt to change the status quo.
However, what choice to we have? Do we want to wait another 54 years for "The Fearmakers - Part 2" before we realize that a whole century of corruption and loss of freedom has happened? I think not. You can join us in the start of this effort by visiting:
http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/united_states_of_purple_015.htm
and helping us start the imposition of term limits. The journey of a thousand miles or one hundred years starts with the one step.
We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:
http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/
The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.
The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/
No comments:
Post a Comment